The construction and successful launch of the steamship Adriatic for the Collins line of steamers, which took place on the 7th of April, furnishes additional evidence of the superiority of the Nautical over the Naval in the United States, for all the purposes both of peace and war. This vessel, like the rest of the Collins line, is intended to be adapted to war purposes when required, and notwithstanding the ship-builders of New York have been set down as very good axe and adze carpenters, the launch both of this ship and of the Niagara have abundantly proved that they can at least launch ships of superior size, if not of quality, without, as was the case in the launch of the Roanoke, breaking 11 of the deck beams, or of the Minnesota, in breaking 17 knees of the orlop deck, nor yet the Wabash, in springing the spar deck beams clear of the stanchions. We think that some, at least, of the Nautical mechanics of the commercial metropolis have now earned, if they were not before entitled to, the name of ship-builders. It has been one of the "customs of the Naval service", for the commanding officer of a Navy Yard to claim the credit due a successful launch. We are not, however, advised in relation to the claimant of the honors attendant upon the launch of the vessel we have named; the Commandant would not surely change the "customs of the service", to avoid responsibility. Be this as it may, it is quite certain that Mr. Steers, who built the Adriatic launched her.
In endeavouring to offer an apology for the injury done to the Minnesota in launching, we are told that the broken knees were rotten, and that had they not been, they would not have been broken; so much the worse, alas, for our Navy! We had supposed that the chief, and indeed the only advantage in having Navy Yards and constructing government vessels, was found in the superiority of the materials and manner of construction. The most prejudiced in favor of the "customs of the service" will not deny, that the work on the Niagara is superior to that of any of the other five vessels built under the late act of Congress; and now that it should be said that the materials of any one of the vessels were rotten, is indeed too bad. Who was the surveyor?
The dimensions of the Adriatic are as follows:
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 feet. Breadth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 " Depth of hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 " 2 inches. Register tonnage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,144 3/4 tons.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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Copyright © 1996 Lars Bruzelius.